easymode

Casey wrote: Feb 23rd, '26, 16:12 I'm kinda boring. I just use Debian

What did you do to get that background and tool bar style? I have a Debian machine as well.

cryzona wrote: Feb 23rd, '26, 16:17 What did you do to get that background and tool bar style? I have a Debian machine as well.

I'm using a set of themes called Redmond97! You can read up on it and the successor to it, Redmond97 SE, here:

original: https://github.com/matthewmx86/Redmond97

SE: https://codeberg.org/Sliver_X/Redmond97-SE

for the wallpaper, it's a roger dean painting. can't remember which one off the top of my head

Least boring distro, idc what anyone says. Debian is not just the safest OS to install on any machine, but also the safest to install from a moral standpoint: https://www.debian.org/social_contract

I just use Arch on the main machine because it's familiar . If I felt like throwing away the work I've done with this setup then I'd just be back on Debian.

Happy Fedora user here for many years at this point, GNOME on my main/gaming PC and Sway on my aging thinkpad. I like the fact that it's up-to-date without being rolling like Arch.

I'm a big Debian fan however.

I wish Redmond 97 was available for Plasma... it's so much better than the retro windows themes... but I just prefer plasma. I could try to get used to xfce, but... time. As for Debian, my goal was to just run Debian at first... for stability... but I had issues due to the old versions of OBS and such and ended up installing a few compatibility layers so I could run arch programs then finally just though... "I should just run something more bleeding edge." Distro hopping is annoying, so hopefully I won't have to do that anymore.

Speaking of compatibility layers... is anyone use Distrobox? I feel like it almost needs to be a standard feature on most versions of Linux, even though it bloats things a bit.

Virtua Wug wrote: Feb 23rd, '26, 11:54

openSUSE is my current distro. A family member surprised me with this cute little S.u.S.E. enamel pin for Christmas!

Admittedly, I'm quite green with Linux; I've been on Windows since age 4 and my first Linux install was as recent as November of 2025. Despite that, my experience with Linux has already been far better than my experience with Windows. I'll never go back, Linux has been a complete upgrade for all of my use cases.

openSUSE 4tw

Rocking tumbleweed rn :3

I love this pin! >^w^<

EndeavourOS running KDE checking in. I never did the distro hopping thing, just tried this one day and wiped my windows drive a couple weeks later.

I love arch-based distros, the AUR rules, and every time you search "some linux thing" on the internet, chances are it's an arch-wiki result. I'm not a Linux veteran by any stretch, so I like when the advice on the internet is at least a little bit tailored to my situation. I still have an enormous doc saved with all the tips and tricks I've gathered, as well as setup instructions and locations for config files.

I tried getting into these fancy setups with hyprland, but realized it wasn't really for me. I just want to keep stuff simple. Currently running Catchy OS.

ravanal wrote: Mar 12th, '26, 06:27 I tried getting into these fancy setups with hyprland, but realized it wasn't really for me. I just want to keep stuff simple. Currently running Catchy OS.

Your ui looks really awesome. Which theme is that?

ravanal wrote: Mar 12th, '26, 06:27 I tried getting into these fancy setups with hyprland, but realized it wasn't really for me.

I know this isn't completely the case, but I'm convinced that nobody who uses hyprland actually enjoys it. It's always been one of those things that gets parroted around by tech-bro influencers (ugh) and holdovers from the old "suckless" crowd (mega ugh) because they don't realize that "being loud = being correct" doesn't work and never will. One of the reasons I prefer Niri (if I ever want that kind of WM again) is because it just feels like the "anti-hyprland" to me. I don't know how to explain that.